Trees of Green, Red Roses Too
by ghostfacekiller39
Summary: WWII AU centered around 3 of my favorite pairings, with MiaXDiego and a surprise slash that was added for humor. Written in Phoenix/Apollo/Edgeworth format. Keep in mind these are 3 separate stories happening in the same place and the same time, so the tone will often jump around. PhoenixXMaya, ApolloXEma, EdgeworthXFranziska. DISCLAIMER: Capcom owns these characters, not me.
1. Chapter 1: Phoenix

CHAPTER 1 PART 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'd like to thank 6GunSally for all the help she provided me with while I started writing this story. Thank you. Anyways, this WWII AU is going to be in a Phoenix/Apollo/Edgeworth format, with one cycle of the format making a whole chapter, but posted in different intervals. Enjoy!**

-ghostfacekiller39

Phoenix woke up to the smell of a bad breakfast; it wasn't like breakfast back home. He looked over at his roomate for this war; Larry lay on his back, snoring, with a nudie magazine covering most of his face. _I really drew the short end of the stick when we picked who we had to bunk with..._

He saw Lt. Edgeworth sitting on a hay bale in front a large pot Pvt. Armstrong used to cook in; Private Armstrong was inept in battle, but he owned a restuarant back in the states, so they often just used him as a cook. _Wait...is it safe to have an open flame in a barn? _Phoenix got up and stood beside Pvt. Lang, who was smoking a cigarette. Phoenix couldn't bite his tongue any longer. "...is it safe to be cooking on an open flame and smoking inside of a wooden barn?" Lang just replied with a "Shut up, spikey."

Armstrong spoke up; "You're going to have to excuse mi amour, monsiuer. He iz just a tad bit...how should I say zis...lunatique in ze morning, no?" Lang gnashed his wolf-like teeth out; "Shut up, Armstrong."

Armstrong excitedly started wiggling, ignoring Lang's statement. "His touch in ze night, though! It makez me feel like ze little girl again, oh la la!" Lang stood up hurredly. "Armstrong! I..I...why are you lying to everyone like that!?"

The large chef just started picking at a rose he carried around with him. "Oh no no, mi amour! I speak ze truth! You're touch, it iz heavenly, non?" Lang threw his hands in the air in front of him in a sweat. Phoenix and Edgeworth had been looking at each other, stifling back laughter at Lang's attempt to cover up what the entire unit was already aware of.

Lang stood up in a sweat and shouted; "WHAT!? Why are you two looking at each other like that!?" Before they could answer, Apollo, Gumshoe, and Larry had walked out of their lofts in the barn, completing the unit; Larry spoke up with his usual whining; "Man, I joined the military for the tail I thought I'd get! And now what? I just get surrounded by men."

Edgeworth, the squad leader, spoke up for the first time all morning; "Larry...shut up." Larry broke out in a cold sweat; before he could respond, Armstrong began passing out the squad's breakfast that morning; Phoenix couldn't tell what it was, but he knew it wasn't what you'd find at a 5-star restuarant. Out of a desparate hunger, he became shoving food into his mouth; a pit the size of the barn they were sleeping in had grown in his stomach since the last time they ate.

Once everyone was done with their breakfast, Phoenix stepped outside the barn; they weren't very busy at the moment; he looked over at the large farmhouse where Commander Gant, Intelligence Officer Armando and that mysterious woman who they were always with were staying. It must be so much more comfortable in there. _THUD! Justice._

Private Justice probably "fell" off of the barn's loft; Phoenix could see right through what he was actually doing though. _He's probably got a scar or a cut that needs to be doctored...I wish Pvt. Armstrong was the nurse.. Apollo probably wouldn't get hurt so much then. _He saw Apollo walking outside with a bit of a limp and blood on his pants; "O-Oh, hey, Wright. I fell off the loft of the barn..." Wright just smirked; "I figured as much..." Apollo just scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Yeahhhhh..." He walked around to the western side of the barn; Wright heard him talking to Edgeworth "Lietunant, I got hurt...I'm going to go get bandaged up."

"That's fine, Justice. Just get back here ASAP."

"O-Ok."

He watched Justice limp off to the nurses' tent before he made his way back into the barn with the rest of his unit, bar Edgeworth.

He walked back into the barn to find Butz, Gumshoe, Lang and Armstrong all seated on 3 hay bales (Lang and Armstrong were sharing one) around a crate, playing a game of cards.

Gumshoe spoke up; "Go fish."

Lang let out an irritated sigh. "Gumshoe, you don't say 'Go Fish' in 21. And you don't hold your cards in your hands, either."

Gumshoe's eyes began absent-mindedly darting around the barn; "What kind of game is this, pal?" He may have been a Sergeant, but he hardly even knew it; he was just another Private in his and everyone else's eyes.

Lang spoke up, always ready to argue; he'd argue about the sum of 2 and 2 with a 1st grader if given the opportunity; "Gumshoe, just move over and let Wright over there take your spot."

Gumshoe had a puppy dog look in his eyes. "Pal, you don't have to be so mean...you could learn a lot about friendliness from your boyfriend." Wright let out a chuckle as he made his way over to Gumshoe's hay bale and took a seat beside him. "

Lang threw his arm up in the air once more, clearly starting to sweat; "Aaiiiyyee! He's not my boyfriend!"

Gumshoe, Butz, Wright, and even Armstrong just laughed at him. Phoenix spoke up; "Just deal me in, Wolfy."

Lang threw Wright 2 cards as he mumbled under his breath in embarrassment.


	2. Chapter 1: Apollo

CHAPTER 1 PART 2

Apollo, the youngest member of his squad, trudged his way over to the medical tent. It was about a half a mile away, and they were well accustomed to him being there. Yes, his injury hurt, but no, not as bad as he played it off to be.

Don't think him a coward, though; he was always eager to fight for his country. He had his reasons as to why he loved going to the nurses tent. He looked over at the countryside he was walking by; the vast, green, open fields of European land; many squads were stationed in houses and barns in this area, just like his was. The vineyards spread across the French countryside were abosolutely beautiful in every sense of the word; he wished he and Nurse Ema were visiting this country under better circumstances...

The nurse's tent came into his sights; he walked at a sped up pace. He smiled; he was only 19, and he was quite sure he didn't understand love yet, but he knew she made him very happy, and he hoped he made her just as happy as she did him.

He walked into the tent to be greeted by a pale skinned nurse with chestnut brown hair, sitting at a metal desk between two divisions of the medical tent; she wasn't a very excitable person towards most people, but he noticed how she brightened up around him. She hadn't noticed him yet; she munching on her favorite snacks to drown out the other two nurses; one was a mousey girl that looked like that agent Officer Armando was with, and the other was sort of a crow-like girl who always claimed to be a great theif. They were both loud and were always having fun, and Ema wasn't from that branch of the tree.

He walked up to the desk; the other the mousey-girl was pushing the crow-girl around on a gurney like a car. Ema just had her head turned the other way and she was violently chewing on her snacks.

Apollo waited for her to notice him; he thought to himself _Who's in charge here!? _Finally, he decided to speak up. "U-um, hey, Ema."

She quickly turned her head with a grin; "Oh, hey, Pollo! I was wondering why you weren't hurt yet today!" He really liked her nickname for him.

_It's only 9 o'clock in the morning...am I really that bad about coming over here? _He scratched the back of his head. "Y-yeahh...I-I hurt my leg again."

She smiled. "Hold on, let me get the bandage kit." She reached into her desk and began searching around a messy drawer; Apollo began contemplating his surroundings.

It was a tent with room for 12 total, 6 on each half of the tent that was divided in two. The sun shined through the white fabric; there were red medical crosses on each side of the tent. There was no floor, only the ground beneath their feet. The other two nurses each handled one of the two halves, and Ema sat at the metal desk that was between them, and she handled smaller injuries that needed attention. Other than the four of them, it was empty; the French countryside they were all stationed in until further noticed had been very quiet as of recently.

She set the bandage kit on top of her desk and slid the drawer shut. _SLAM!_

The crow-girl and the mousey-girl slammed their gurney into the side of Ema's desk. "OOPS!" The mousey girl who was pushing the cart looked down in shame.

"Maya! What the hell? Be careful! We have an injured soldier here!" _Maya. The mousey-girl must be named Maya. _The crow-girl, who was still sitting on top of the gurney, had a cheeky grin plastered across her face. "Ema? This is Pollo, isn't it?"

Ema put her finger up to her mouth. "Um..." Apollo extended his hand. "Hello, I'm Pvt. Justice. And you are?"

She lightly shook his hand back. "Kay Faraday." That cheeky grin spread back across her face. "You should really hear the way that Ema talks about you, Pollo." She put her voice into a mockingly high voice; "Oh, Kay and Maya! Pollo is such a hunk! I just love his hair! He's so handsome!" Ema picked up her bag of snacks and chased her fellow nurses off by throwing the chocolate candies at them, as they rode off in the gurney in laughter. She got back and blushed. "So..."

Apollo scratched the back of his head, blushing as well. "Y-Yeahh..."

She quickly changed the subject. "Well, we should get your leg bandaged up, shouldn't we?"

He smiled. "Yeah, we should."

He put his leg up on a chair and she pulled up his left pant leg; she looked at it. "Oh, it should be alright, it's just a flesh wound." It appeared to be skin-deep, a minor scrape that had already finished bleeding; she pulled out a large bandage, as the scrape went all up and down his calf, and began wrapping it. When she was done, she tapped his bandage lightly with her index finger. "Poof. All done!"

He got up and walked around on it. "Thanks, Ema. I'll be seeing you around."

She waved goodbye with a smile; "Bye, Pollo!"

He turned and walked out of the medical tent, and thoughts of Ema couldn't leave his mind during the long, lonely walk to the farm. When he came back to the farmhouse, he smelled an appetizing smell and began the slightly drool; he looked into the breakfast nook window to see Commander Gant, Officer Armando and the mysterious lady who looked like Maya being served breakfast. The smell of their food alone was more satisfying than Armstrong's cooking.

He walked into the barn to find 3 haybales surrounding a crate, and the rest of his unit were playing a game of 21. He took a seat by Larry, who was Pvt. Wright's bunkmate; he didn't like him at all. His bunkmate, Sgt. Gumshoe, was seated by Pvt. Wright, and bunkmates Pvt. Lang and Pvt. Armstrong were seated by each other, to no one's surprise. Apollo and Gumshoe spent many sleepless nights listening to them in the stall beside them. They made a promise to make sure that one of the others got put by those two. Lt. Edgeworth, as the squad leader, got his own stall, and there were two empty ones. The military took the horses that used to occupy them.

"Deal me in." Lang threw him two cards as he sat by Pvt. Butz. "See, Polly here has everything figured out! He hurts himself everyday just to go down to see the nurses at the medical tent! Tell me, Polly, have you boinked one of the nurses yet?"

Apollo turned red at the way Larry said that; _How dare he talk about Ema that way! _"N-No!" Butz just laughed and patted him on the back. Ughh, it was going to be yet another long day with these men.


	3. Chapter 1: Edgeworth

CHAPTER 1 PART 3

Miles Edgeworth had been standing against the Western half of the barn for around an hour now. He lit another cigarette. He had never even begun to imagine himself becoming a smoker; but he really needed an outlet for his shortage of tea. It was almost as if he could give a months, days, hours, minutes, seconds breakdown since his last cup; _Oh, wait; 7 months, 3 days, 21 hours, 32 minutes and 13 seconds. _

He sucked on the cigarette, causing the cherry to burn a bright red, inhaled the smoke, and then exhaled it through his nose. _26 years old. 26 and life, so it would seem. _He heard Pvt. Justice and Pvt. Butz yelling at each other; he found Apollo to be a romanticist, and Butz to be a chronic womanizer, often leaving them at odds. He knew why Apollo got hurt everyday; he wanted to go see that pretty little brunette nurse down at the medical center. He granted Apollo this luxury for 3 reasons: 1: He always really was injured, whether it was on purpose or not. 2: He always got taken care of and then found his way back to the barn. 3: He wasn't going to deny love like that; he wouldn't let, say, Pvt. Butz go down there like that, because he would just try to sleep with the nurses and then never speak to them again.

He put out his cigarette and then made his way back to the inside of the barn; it was beginning to look as if it were going to rain. He found them all playing cards; 21, so it would seem. Sgt. Gumshoe stood up with a salute. "Lt. Edgeworth, sir!" Edgeworth didn't like being saluted. It made him feel old. "Gumshoe, put your hand down and get back to your game." The Sergeant shot another salute; "Yes, sir!" Edgeworth just let out a sigh.

He made his way into his stall. He had some pictures of him and his father and a ton of packages of cigarettes, half of them empty, and his personal journals. He picked up the one he was working on at the moment, and pulled his Zippo lighter out of his pocket and lit another cigarette; the air around him was growing cold and humid, further signaling a forecast of rain. He picked up his pen and began writing.

_March 3, 1943_

_ Pvt. Justice was injured again today, and Pvt. Armstrong and Pvt. Lang's relationship has become much less of a secret. I can hear them every night, telling each other, corny, cliched nicknames and baby talking to each other. I doubt Pvt. Wright and Pvt. Butz can hear it, but there's no doubt in my mind Pvt. Justice and Sgt. Gumshoe hear it, too._

He exhaled his cigarette smoke, and tapped his forehead slightly. _CRASH! BOOM! _The sound of thunder broke his concentration for a moment. He closed his journal temporarily and got up to go check on his squad.

He opened his stall door and did a head count. Everyone was there but Gumshoe. He opened the door to Justice and Gumshoe's stall, to find his sergeant curled into a ball. "Sgt. Gumshoe, be a man and get up!"

He was shaking. "N-n-nn-nnnnnn-nnnn"

He let out a sigh. "Sergeant, get up, _now._" Gumshoe complied at the icy tone in his voice. Gumshoe sat at his place on the haybales, prompting Edgeworth to go back to his stall.

He sat back down against the wall, and the squad were all outside playing poker now. He could tell, as they had gotten much louder now. He opened his journal and tried finding something to write about. He couldn't think of anything, and lifted his cigarette out of his mouth once more.

He heard something moving around in the loft above him; he picked up his pistol and slid it in his pants pocket; he quietly made his way around the rest of his soldiers. He didn't know why, but his instincts were telling him to go against protocol for reasons unbeknowst to him.

He pulled his pistol out of his pocket as he made his way up towards the top. He had heard the sound from directly above his stall, so he pushed his way through hay bales, pistol held tightly in his right hand.

Once he had gotten to the area directly above his stall in the southwest corner, he found a small, blue haired girl wielding a whip, sitting in hiding. She looked sad to him, alone, and he walked up over to her and tried making conversation.

_She must have snuck in when we were sleeping last night. _"Hello, my name is Lt. Edgeworth with the United States Army. What's your name?"

She looked up, and the sadness in her eyes changed into anger; _CRACK! _"Nrrghh!" _What the hell was that for?_ She held her whip over her head, ready to strike again.

_"Armee Vereinigter Staaten? Mein Vater totet Sie sicher." _He noticed she said this with a hint of fear. _German? I don't need to be explained as to why there's a German girl hiding in the lofts of our barn..._

He pointed his pistol at her, finger on the trigger, ready to fire. She jumped back and let out a squeal; the rest of the unit didn't notice the noise. _"SchieBen sie nicht! Bitte schieBen sie Nicht! Ich hole Ihnen keinen Schaden!"_

She held her whip over her face, trembling. He didn't know what she said, but didn't think her to be a real threat. He just put the gun on safety and continued pointing it at her. "Do you speak any English?" He asked in a slow, soft tone.

She looked up, almost in tears. He squatted down, both hands on his knees, and tried being comforting. She didn't know what he said, but she took was able to pick up a couple of words. "Ing-glish? _Nein._"

He tried thinking of something else to ask her that she might understand. He didn't know why, but he trusted her. He didn't think she was evil or going to cause his troop any harm; She was a bit mean-spirited, maybe, but meant no harm. She spoke up.

_"Ich bin Franziska von Karma. Mein Vater is Manfred von Karma. Ich werde nich Sie verletzen, und ich bin kein Spion. Bitte, bitte sagen Sie niemandem, dass ich hier bin..." _Her blue eyes were filled with fear; he had to be strong though. He had heard her name to be Franziska von Karma, and also heard Manfred von Karma in her sentence. He deduced that she was his daughter; and having the daughter of one of the leaders of the Nazi army in the barn where your troop was staying isn't a good thing. However, there was something about her he...wanted to keep safe. She seemed scared, and alone. He began searching around the loft for a rope of some sort, but he couldn't find one.

He couldn't find one, so he tried thinking of a way to tell her to sneak down to his stall later that night. "Franziska..." he pointed down to his stall below him. "Night...my stall?" She looked at him like he was stupid, but nodded a yes in slight understanding. The rain stopped, and the sun came out, giving Edgeworth a better view of her.

Her face was dirty, and her clothes were torn; they were military clothes, but he had saw where she had ripped off her Nazi armband and Nazi patches on her uniform. He took a handkerchef out of his green army jacket and wiped some of the dirt off of her face. Their eyes met for a second; but Franziska quickly turned away, leaving Edgeworth to get up and leave back down to his stall.

_Later that night..._

Pvt. Lang and Pvt. Armstrong kept baby talking to each other, much to Lt. Edgeworth's dismay. However, he refused to go to sleep that night until that German girl came down to his stall and he knew she was safe; he had left the door to his stall open so she could come in.

He stayed awake for a little while longer, but after 30 minutes, he had given up and turned to his side in an attempt to go to sleep. He sighed and closed his eyes, ready to go to sleep.

His door creaked, and a girl's voice with a thick German accent whispered "Liuetenant Ed-worth?" He opened his eyes with a smile.

* * *

**FRANZISKA SPEAKS:**

**You're an American soldier? My father will surely kill you!**

**Don't Shoot! Please don't shoot! I mean no harm!**

**I am Franziska von Karma. My father is Manfred von Karma. I'm not a spy, and I'm not going to hurt anyone. Just please, please don't tell anyone I'm here...**

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I made a language barrier between Franziska and Edgeworth to add sort of a depth to their romance. Any chapter with Franziska having speaking lines, I will provide translations at the bottom of the chapter like this. -ghostfacekiller39**


	4. Chapter 2: Phoenix

CHAPTER 2 PART 1

Phoenix lay in his stall awake, listening to Larry's snoring. The blankets they were issued were about the equivalent of a single piece of tissue paper when it came to covering you and keeping you warm. He just began to think; he thought about the pretty little redhead he had left back home. He hadn't heard from her once since he had been deployed, but he kept his hopes up and he wrote her a letter every other day. It was mail day tomorrow, and he really just wanted to get some sleep. He sat up and looked at the moon through a small hole in the barn's wooden wall; "_Goodnight, Dahlia."_

Larry started sleep-talking, causing Phoenix to jump;. "My name's not Diarreah! ..it's...pickled...mayonaise...paste..." He drifted off and started snoring once again. Phoenix just sighed and lay back down on the hay in the floor, and dozed off into a sleep himself.

He woke up the next morning to hear the rooster crowing; he sat up and found Jean Armstrong cooking their breakfast._ Ughh..._ He rubbed his eyes and saw that Lt. Edgeworth wasn't out yet; besides Armstrong himself, he was the first one up, with a cigarette pressed between his lips. He figured that since they were childhood friends, it'd be alright to knock on his stall door to tell him the sun had rison to signal the begininning of the day.

He knocked, and almost immediately, Edgeworth opened the stall door slightly. "Hey, Lieutenant...I was just worried that-"

Edgeworth pulled out his Zippo and lit a cigarette during the time Phoenix was talking, and then he leaned his elbow against the wall separating his stall and the stall they used for storage; the sleeve of his army green jacket rolled up to his elbow as he did this (He, Larry, and Pvt. Lang were the only ones to wear them, and Pvt. Lang was the only one to button his up. They all had one, though.) He spoke up, stopping Phoenix mid-sentence. "Wright, don't be disrespectful to your superiors. Don't you think I would have been out there by now unless I had a very good reason not to be?"

Wright had been caught off guard by this; everything he had said had been the truth. "No, Lieutenant..."

Edgeworth sucked on his cigarette a bit, and then spoke up. "Good, Private. And tell Armstrong to cook something decent for breakfast this morning and bring it to my stall door. I won't be joining the rest of you for breakfast this morning."

Wright nodded in compliance and went to see what Armstrong had already started cooking; luckily, it was bacon and eggs, although with Armstrong's cooking, he still absolutely ruined the breakfast duo; it was just his best dish.

"Armstrong, when you're done cooking, Lt. Edgeworth asked to have his breakfast taken to his stall." Armstrong looked up with a nod and got right back to cooking; his eyes sparkled with a passion when he cooked everyone their meals, and, unless Pvt. Lang was involved, he did not pay any attention to anything else. Phoenix went back into his stall to grab a pen and paper to write Dahlia a letter; he just knew he'd get something in the mail from her today.

He sat on one of the haybales, and pressed his pen to his forehead to think of what he wanted to say to her; nothing that he hadn't already told her came to mind. He saw Pvt. Justice come out of his stall wearing his Army jacket; Phoenix had never seen him in it before, just the t-shirt everyone had to wear under it. "Hey, Phoenix." Wright nodded; Phoenix maintained an overall friendly relationship with everyone in his unit; Apollo didn't like anyone other than him and Gumshoe, it seemed. "Hey, Polly." Apollo turned red in a bad way. _Maybe that's why he doesn't like the others._

They made conversation; Apollo was always very open with Phoenix about things, particularly Ema; until Larry and Lang woke up, and they joined in. After that, the conversation turned idle.

Larry talked about his favorite subject: The nurses, much to Apollo's dismay. "Man, Polly, you know your nurses at the South medical tent, right? Have you seen the tits on that brunette one? Wowza. But I'm telling you what, Polly, if you think she's great, you should see the ones in the tent North of here; there's this sort of pinkish one who makes the girls in your tent look like total dogs." Apollo turned a violent red with anger, and began gnashing his teeth together. Phoenix made it a point to grab the back of his collar to keep him from jumping over the card crate and strangling Larry to death.

Phoenix felt a deep breath in his wrist that was rested on Apollo's back. Justice maintained a straight face and calmly told his arch-nemesis: "Larry, I'm going to kill you, dissect you, and then feed your intestines to the pet rat Sgt. Gumshoe keeps in the stall with us." _Well, _Phoenix thought to himself, _I've never seen something escalate and decline at the same time like that._

Larry just smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Hah! Polly, you're such a joker! That's probably why you're one of my favorites here; you make me smile."

Apollo just replied through clinched teeth "Believe me, it's not intentional. _At All._"

Finally, Armstrong rang his little bell, waking up Gumshoe; completing the unit, barring Lt. Edgeworth.

Everyone had started eating while Armstrong took Edgeworth's breakfast to him; Phoenix noted how the Lieutenant stuck one arm throught the door and grabbed the plate. He wondered what Edgeworth was hiding in there, but he just shrugged it off.

Once they had all finished eating, Larry was talking to Apollo while Lang dealt everyone their cards. "You know though, that nurse with the key in her hair? I've seen better at the North tent, but lordy, does that nurse's outfit do wonders for her legs. I don't know about the mousey one, though...she's pretty, but I think she'd be last in line of all the nurses I've seen..."

Phoenix was proud that Pvt. Justice was keeping his cool with Larry; until Apollo just calmly hurled an insult towards the main source of his irritation. "Hey, Larry, if you looked up the word stupid in the dictionary, do you know what you'd find?"

Larry just grinned and let his sleeve fall down off his wrist, concealing his hand. "A picture of me?"

Apollo snapped at him; "No, the definition of the word stupid, you idiot!" Larry just laughed, not in a mocking way, but in a 'Good one, buddy' way, which irritated Apollo even further. "Hey Lang, can you bum me a smoke?"

This question caught everyone off guard, as Apollo was sort of the goody-two-shoes of the group. Lang slowly and sheepishly pulled out his cigarettes from his pocket and handed Justice one, giving him a light as well. Apollo then thanked Pvt. Lang and everyone watched him as he inhaled and exhaled the smoke, choking back coughs.

All attention shifted off Apollo, however, when the Barn doors opened and an overpowering fragrance of dark coffee filled the barn. Phoenix had only seen Intelligence Officer Diego Armando through the window in the farm house; never up close. His Army jacket had a few medals on it and was unbuttoned with no shirt beneath; he carried coffee and cigarettes with him at all times, yet, his teeth maintained a sparkling white tint to them. His step had confidence in it, although it was a confidence you could feel, not see. A solid white cup of black coffee was being held loosely in his right hand.

He ignored them all as he made his way towards Lt. Edgeworth's stall, and knocked on the door. Edgeworth opened and gave him a quick salute. "Officer Armando, this is quite a surprise..."

Diego took a sip of his coffee. "Yes. I did not plan on visting this pigsty for idle chat though, Lieutenant. I just thought you needed to be informed that I saw an intruder enter the barn last night, and I came to strongly recommend that you nail the windows to the barn shut."

He turned his attention towards the men seated at the crate. "I suggest all of you start searching the premises of this barn for any...unwelcomed guests." He snapped his fingers and they all shot up to do as they were instructed to.

All they found were a few missing food items from the storage stall, and they reported this back to Officer Diego. He nodded at the report and turned his attention back to Lt. Edgeworth. "Lieutenant, I don't like watching people in command allow things like this to happen. You should do your job better, or one of these men might be dethroning you soon, if I have any say so."

With that, Armando turned away from Edgeworth's stall and made his way back to the farm house. Lt. Edgeworth shut the door to his stall and retreated back into it.

With that, the rest of the squad took there seats around the card crate, but before Lang could start dealing out the cards, Edgeworth's stall door opened. "Wright! Justice! Nail the barn windows shut."He went back into the stall after giving this both trudged their way to the storage stall to get some hammers and nails, and they made their made their way up into the loft.

Phoenix listened to Justice talk about Ema and tried giving him his take on how to handle the situation, but he kept on ignoring his advice, and talked about the nurse with a certain sparkle in his eye; similar to the one he had when he talked about Dahlia (or so he thought) or the one Armstrong had when he was cooking. They came to a creaky, unstable section of the loft that was directly below one of the windows they were to nail shut. "Phoenix...we really, REALLY need to watch our step over here...even I won't come to this part of the loft, because it's too unstable."

Phoenix smirked; "Point taken." They got down onto a knee and began hammering the nails into the window; Phoenix missed and hit his hand, causing him to jump.

The sudden movement caused the floor to collapse beneath them. _THUD! _"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH HHHHHHHH!"

He blacked out for a second. He came to for a bit, and saw the entire unit, including Lt. Edgeworth, standing before him. He look down at his legs; the bone had cleanly snapped in half and had exited his skin, therefore he was laying in a pool of his own blood. He passed out once more.

When he came to once again, he was in the medical tent; he looked over and saw Apollo in the bed next to him, sleeping. His own leg was in a sling. He felt someone approaching him to see if he had awakened from his blackout yet; he looked up and to the other side of his bed and lost his breath.

"H-Hey, I'm Phoenix."

The girl looked up and lost her color. "I-I'm Maya..."


	5. Chapter 2: Apollo

CHAPTER 2 PART 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know I left it on a PhoenixXMaya cliffhanger last time, but I'm going to get back to that at the beginning of Chapter 3. I don't want any major relationship developments to happen out of their own part of the chapter, and I wanted to provide a backstory for Apollo. I would really appreciate reviews here...I almost cried writing it.**

Apollo awoke to see a certain brown-haired nurse sitting in a chair by his bed side with a bowl of vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate treats. Ema Skye greeted him with a smile and handed him the sugary snack. "Hey, Pollo!" She said, grinning wide. "I hope you don't mind, but I got you this ice cream, and I put some of my Snackoos on top of it. That's what I do when I get to eat it. It's great together!" He just smiled as he lay in bed. "Thanks, Ema."

She blushed lightly as she stood; it was more of a happy, cutest blush than an embarrassed blush. "Your welcome, Pollo. Now, call me if you need anything! I know you're in Maya's unit, but I'm going to be taking care of you, ok?" He brightened up. "Sounds great!" He knew he'd have to try to refrain from calling on her unless he actually needed it. She grinned. "Ok, Bye bye!" She waved and went back to her desk.

He felt special as he started eating his ice cream; it wasn't her job to take care of soldiers that stayed in the tent overnight, but she took him in special. Oh, he had to fight not calling her to be by his side like he was in the heat of the battle; he'd have to fight this internal war for- "Hey, Ema?" She came rushing to his bed.

"Yes, Pollo?" She reached over and wiped some ice-cream of his face with her thumb.

"How long am I going to be in here?"

She put her finger up to her cheek in thought. "Hold on." She turned and walked back to her desk. She came back with an extremely large file; so large, she was struggling to carry it with both arms. On the cover was written _Justice, Apollo._

"I-Is that my file?" Apollo said with an embarrassed blush. Ema jsut smirked, bringing out the green hue to her eyes. "Yep. Here, let me see..." She began quickly flipping through the file. She pulled out a piece of paper and began taking a closer look at it. "It says here between 3 and 5 days." Apollo tried to hide a smile. "Oh...that's too bad." All of a sudden, Ema got serious. "Yeah, but your friend over there might not be going back to the unit again. The bone broke cleanly out of his leg, just snapped right out. If he ever walked without a cane again it be a miracle." Apollo's heart sunk. "O-oh..." _Poor Phoenix...wow..._

Ema quickly grew bubbly again. "So, remember call me if you need anything!" With that, she hopped off once more. He looked over towards Wright in the bed to his left. He was sleeping, and his leg was held together in a cast and was propped up in a sling. The mousey-nurse walked over to his friend and began checking him; she was 19 like he and Ema, and Kay was 18. Apollo believed Maya was her name.

"Hey, Maya, is my friend fine?"

She clapped her hands together with a smile; "Yes! He's very fine! That spiky hair, those dark eyes..." She was clearly fawning over the incapacitated private.

Apollo just breathed out an irritated "No...is he going to be alright? His leg?"

She flinched in embarrassment. "O-oh!" She looked down towards the ground, avoiding eye contact. "I...I don't know that for sure." All of a sudden, Apollo felt something tightening around his wrist; like a boa constrictor. He looked at his bracelet his mother had given him; it was the culprit. He left reality, if just for a moment, and returned to his childhood for a brief second.

* * *

_December 24, 1930_

_6 year-old Apollo Justice clutched his little teddy bear, Mr. Cubbins, close to his side; tears were falling down his face, and he had been drying them on the fabric his best friend provided. He had dirt on his cheeks and his clothes were ripped. His mother held his hand as they walked down the snow covered path to a large building Apollo had known to be where little boys and girls go when they don't have parents._

_"Mommy...why are you going to leave me here? Do you still love me?" He sniffled and dried his eyes with Mr. Cubbins once more. His mom didn't look down at him; "Yes, I do...I just can't afford to take care of you anymore...you'll be better off here with these nice, god-fearing people." A short, Irish type woman opened the door for him. "Oh, my, my, little one, where are your bags?" Apollo looked at Mr. Cubbins, as he did when he was embarrassed to tell someone something; "I...I...I don't have any." The nun was not much taller than Apollo himself. "Oh, now, now, dearie, I can't be having my children going around with no clothes like this. Here. Come on inside and we'll give you a shower and get you cleaned up, and put you in some nice, warm clothes." She softly put her hand on his back and tried pushing him inside. He screamed "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !" It was a high-pitched scream you'd here from a child. "No! No! NO!" Tears began falling from his eyes even more, and he held Mr. Cubbins in a vice-grip. "I want to be with my mommy! Mommy...! Don't leave me here!" He cried even more. The nun pat him on the back, almost in tears herself. He hugged her tight and began drying his eyes on her outfit._

_He heard his mom speak up, not to him, but to the nun. "Sister Bikini, thanks for taking him in on such short notice." The sister didn't speak, just nodded a yes as his mother began to walk off. He tore himself away from the sister and ran up to his mom. "Mommy...where are you going?"_

_"I don't rightly know that for sure..." With that, she turned and left, never to be seen again._

_He stood there, staring at his mother as she walked out the gate. He felt a hand touch his back; "Come now, little one, we must get you and Mr. Cubbins inside before you freeze your toes off out here." She guided him into the orphanage. _

_"I miss my mommy..." _

_The nun began taking something off of her wrist. "Here, little one. I'll give you my own personal bracelet to keep you safe. Now, let's go get you and Mr. Cubbins ready for bed."_

_He slid the bracelet on; it was too big for his wrist, and he looked into it to see his reflection; his eyes were bloodshot, and he heard a voice ring out through his head._

_"I don't rightly know that for sure..."_

* * *

"..Pollo?" His bracelet had since loosened it's grip. "H-Huh? Oh, hey Ema."

She looked worried. "Pollo, are you ok...? You seemed a little...out of it for a second there."

He felt the color coming back to his skin. "Yeah...I'm fine. Hey Ema, do you want to see a picture of my mom?"

She grinned; "Of course." And she came and sat in the chair by his bedside.

He pulled a locket out from under his t-shirt and showed her a picture of him, a teddy bear, and a nun. "That's Mr. Cubbins, my bear. I gave him to Sister Bikini when..." His eyes began filling with tears, and he saw Ema look over at him, begininning to tear up herself.

"...when she spread her wings and flew away."


	6. Chapter 2: Edgeworth

CHAPTER 2 PART 3

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter has a much different tone than the last chapter; keep in mind I'm pretty much writing 3 different storylines here. Now, this was a bridge chapter; I used it as a means of describing the dog days of living in the barn, a means of describing how Edgeworth and Franziska grew closer, and the bridge part was the letters that are going to be delivered to Phoenix by Edgeworth in CH. 3 Part 1. So, I hope you understand this chapter better.**

Miles sat in the stall; it was around noon-time, and his unit had been seated in the barn playing cards and talking amongst themselves. The incident that had happened earlier that caught everyone off guard; he didn't want to admit it to the rest of his unit, Franziska (who had been staying in his stall with him, cornered like a mouse all day, somewhat scared of her surroundings. He wanted to give her kudos, though; she'd been playing tough through everything) or even himself; Pvt. Wright had no chance of returning to the barn. His leg would never be the same again, even if medicine advanced to 80 years in the future overnight; his military career was over, and all the private could do was wait until they sent him back home. Pvt. Justice, however, should be back soon enough, and they'd probably send in someone in the reserves to replace Wright in the next day or two.

He looked over at Franziska, covered up in his and Pvt. Wright's blanket; when they took his belongings away, he managed to sneak off with his blanket so they could each have one; asleep against a hay bale in the barn, her whip being held in a vice grip in her left hand, her right hand clutching her left elbow, and the sunlight was shining on her face through a small hole in the wall. He smiled; she was a beautiful girl, and through their conversations during the night, he had managed to learn a few things about her; such as she was 19, she loved horses, she had run away, and her father, Nazi commander Manfred von Karma, had most likely sent his right hand man, someone she only identified as Gavin, on a search for her. He had to piece most of these together through her limited use of the English language; it had taken him a while to figure out the last one, but he recognized Manfred von Karma's name, she had said _Herr Gavin,_ and he could see the worry and the fear in her eyes as she talked about this.

He pulled a cigarette out of his jacket pocket and placed it between his lips. He began searching for his Zippo lighter, and he found it, but he couldn't light his cigarette, as a knock came at his stall door. It had awoke Franziska, and he held his index finger up to his mouth as he made his way to the door to shush her from gasping. Once he got to the door, he cracked it open to see an over-zealous mailboy throw a salute his wat. "SIR! PVT. MIKE MEEKINS, MAILBOY, SIR!"

Edgeworth felt a sharp pain shoot through his head. "Put your hand down, private. Now, do you have mail for me or is this just a pointless waste of my time?" Meekins started to shoot up another salute, but stopped himself halfway. "SIR! NO, SIR! I HAVE MAIL FOR ONE OF YOUR CORPORALS, SIR!" He pulled out a huge stack of letters out of his mailbag and handed them to Lt. Edgeworth. Before he read the name, he asked Meekins "Why are you giving this to me instead of the person they're to?"

Meekins began fiddling with his thumbs. "Um...well, sir...the others outside told me he wasn't here right now..." He turned his attention to the name on the large stack of letters; the sender was listed as Phoenix Wright, and the recipient was a Dahlia Hawthorne; he began flipping through the letters to see "RETURN TO SENDER" stamped in large red letters on each individual envelope. _Damn...poor Wright. _He dismissed Meekins and shut the door. He continued flipping through the letters as he went and sat down back in his usual spot, against the barn wall farthest from the door. He saw Franziska looking at him, but he couldn't stop thinking about Pvt. Wright; he often ignored the fact the he, Pvt. Butz and Pvt. Wright had all been friends in their childhood in order to remain unbiased and professional in the treatment of his men. He'd take these letters to him later, he decided.

He heard a voice speak up next to him; "Lieutenant Ed-worth? _Sind Sie gutes?"_

He lit his cigarette and then he looked over at her and smiled; he didn't know what she said, other than it was a question. He hoped a smile would be a sufficient answer to her question.

"Hey, Franziska..." She looked up at him, a faux icy-cold glare in her eyes. "...tell me about..._Pferde._" He thought this word meant horses, but he wasn't sure.

Her eyes went from ice-cold to cockyness trying to hide excitement. _"Hmph. Sie sind ein schönes Tier, und das beste Haustier, das eine Person um bitten könnte." _

He tried to appear as if he knew what she were saying, although he had not the slightest clue as to what she was trying to tell him. He had to give her credit, though; she knew more English than he knew German. "Really?" She apparently didn't know what this meant.

He took a puff of his cigarette and gazed at the barn ceiling past the door; Franziska broke his concentration, however, with two of his favorite words. "Lieutenant Ed-worth?" He pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and looked over at her; "Yes?" He saw her start to turn red in embarrassment as she wrestled her words out of her mouth. _"...Nein."_

He placed his cigarette between his lips once more and blew the smoke out of his nose. _Germans and women: two types of people I'll never understand, and I've got a mix of both hiding in my stall with me._

He heard Franziska speak up once more; "Lieutenant Ed-worth?" He pulled his cigarette out of his mouth, exhaling the smoke as he did so. "Franziska...what is it?" She was biting her lip now, as if she were holding something in that she had been needing to tell him for a while now; whatever it was she had to say, though, she was really not wanting to ask him. Finally, she gave in. _"Ich muss die Toilette benutzen..." _He was able to recognize one word: Toilet.

"O-Oh!" He got up and held his two hands out in what seemed to say _Hold It _in body language, and was able to pick it up and stayed seated as he walked out the stall door to find her a bucket; it was the closest thing they had to a toilet in the barn after all. He managed to find one up in the loft, but unfortunately, it was metal, therefore it'd make a loud noise, bringing suspicion to his unit. He quickly devised a foolproof plan to cover up the noise.

He handed her the bucked and went and sat with the rest of the unit at the poker crate. "Hey, Armstrong, how's things with you and Lang right now?" Larry and Gumshoe, AKA what was left outside of Lang and Armstrong themselves, began snickering.

"AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYEEEEE! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, LT., SIR?" He had bat ears, and was able to tell that Franziska knew that this was her cue.

"Sorry if it's not any of my business, Pvt. Lang, but I like to think my unit knows I care about what's happening with them." He pulled his cigarette out from between his lips and exhaled.

Armstrong put his rose in his mouth and began wiggling excitedly "Ah, non, Lt.! We iz very 'appy with each other. 'is touch..." he wiped his eyes, as if he were about to cry. "...it makes me feel like I'm a little schoolgirl in love, again, monsiuer." Lang burst out with another howl.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, ARMSTRONG!? LITTLE SCHOOLGIRL IN LOVE?!" Gumshoe and Butz couldn't contain their laughter at their friend's humiliation anymore. Edgeworth had been keeping close tabs on Franziska in the stall, and noticed she had been finished. "Excuse me, men, but I have business to attend to." He was happy that they didn't notice his departure from the group, because they were all too engulfed in Lang vs. Armstrong: Battle of Love.

He opened the door to find Franziska somewhat pale from all of the yelling, having hid her bucket behind the haybale in the stall.

He smirked as he sucked on his cigarette some more. he could tell she didn't like the yelling, so he went and sat beside her. She rested her head on his shoulder as they silently listened to Lang denying any involvement with Armstrong whatsoever.

"Lieutenant Ed-worth?" He looked down at her. _"Ist so täglich?"_

He removed the cigarette from his mouth and kissed her head. "Yeah, it seems that way..."

* * *

**FRANZISKA SPEAKS:**

_**Sind Sie gutes? -**_**Are you ok?**

_**Hmph. Sie sind ein schönes Tier, und das beste Haustier, das eine Person um bitten könnte. - **_**Hmph. They are a beautiful animal, and a perfect pet for any person who matters.**

_**Ich muss die Toilette benutzen... - **_**I need to use the bathroom...**

_**Ist so täglich? - **_**Is everyday like this?**

**Alright, two things: I finally figured out how to put the accents on the letters, which is a plus, and my translations aren't word for word; I put it so they'd make sense to an American, like _Sind Sie gutes _actually translates to "Are you good?" but no one would say that over here, so I changed it to make more sense. Please, if you think I should change it to actual translations, let me know.**


	7. Chapter 3: Phoenix

CHAPTER 3 PART 1

_"Phoenix? Phoenix..." _Phoenix Wright awoke to the sound of Maya's voice; it had sounded angelic to him, and he didn't mind it coming from above to wake him mid-dream during his stay in the medical tent. "Phoenix." He fully opened his eyes to see her standing by his bedside.

He smiled at her; "Hey, Maya. How can I help you?"

She smiled all cutesy like, bur her tone remained serious. "You have a visitor. He says he's your lieutenant and he has something for you."

_Edgeworth...? _"Uh...ok..." She waved him in.

He looked serious. "Hey, Private..." he clutched his shoulder. "Look...I really want to get out of here, but you got some mail today, so I'm bringing it to you."

Phoenix smiled as he took the large stack of letters from Lt. Edgeworth's hand. "So you left Sgt. Gumshoe in charge, I take it." Edgeworth let go of his shoulder and looked up at him with a deadpan expression. "Yes...unfortunately, that's why I must get back ASAP." Phoenix noticed Apollo clutch his bracelet in the bed beside him; he had been munching on some snackoo-covered ice cream Nurse Ema had provided him steadily through out the day; he would walk out of here 100 pounds heavier if she didn't lighten up. "...I'll see you around, Lieutenant." Edgeworth just gave him a nod and left. For some reason, Phoenix felt as if he were wrong when he said that.

He dismissed these feelings and turned all of his attention to the letters Dollie had written him; he had been waiting to hear from her for a long time now; his heart began racing in excitement. Edgeworth had handed him the letters with the back of the bottom envelope facing up. His heart was beating fast, and his fingers were trembling with excitement as he flipped over the large stack of letters to the top. When he did so, he felt his heart take a dive into his stomach.

"...Return to sender?" He threw that letter on the floor, believing it to be a fluke; he began flipping through and tossing more and more letters away. _No...no...no..no..no..no..no..._

He had found himself at the bottom of a pile of unopened letters he had written. He heard Ema and Apollo laughing at the bed beside him, apparantly too into each other to notice his small breakdown in the bed beside them. He lay his head back into his pillow, burying his face into his hands.

He felt someone touch his shoulder. "...Nick?" _Nick. I like the ring to that. _"Um...are you ok?" She had a hamburger in her hand.

"Maya...it wasn't meant to be, was it...?" He didn't look at her, but he felt her hand move off of his shoulder, presumably to pick up a letter he had tossed aside. "Um...I don't think it was, Nick..." He let out a sigh.

A booming voice came around the corner. "Hey E..." She saw the unofficial head nurse was too into Apollo to be aware of anything around her. "Hey Maya! Who was that black-haired man who just walked in here with the letters? I hope he gets hurt soon! I call him if he..." Phoenix heard Maya shush him, followed by the sound of paper being picked up off the ground. "...Oh. I see...well, don't feel bad, Nick!" He looked up at the crow-like nurse, who was grinning like a monkey who had just found a bushel of bananas.

"Don't feel bad!? How am I not going to feel bad!? I just had my heart ripped out of my chest!" He didn't mean to sound angry, and he wasn't angry, he was just heartbroken.

She backed up. "Whoa, whoa, Nicky. I was just going to say you still have May..." Maya put her hands on her hips and shot Kay a glare. "Kay!"

Kay let the last sound of her sentence escape from the side of her mouth. "...a." Phoenix had been caught off guard. "H-huh?" Maya was blushing, scratching the back of her head as he looked her way. "You-" She tore off half of her hamburger and shoved it into his mouth. "Um...I hope this makes you feel better!"

He let it sit in his mouth for a second, but then began to chew. _This isn't half bad...definately better than Armstrong's cooking._

Kay spoke up; "Hey, Nicky? Who was that man with the letters though?" She grinned.

"Oh, Lt. Edgeworth? He's a stick in the mud."

Maya's friend seemed shocked; "No! That stoic glare...the pack of cigarettes pertruding from the pocket of his unbuttoned army jacket...the silky smooth hair...he just screams interesting!"

Phoenix smiled. "Nope. Not really."

Kay just crossed her arms. "Hmph. I don't believe you."

Phoenix nonchalantly replied "Ok." and turned his attention back to Maya, but as soon as he did this, she ran off, yelling "Sis!"

His eyes followed her with his eyes to see Officer Armando standing beside the mysterious female agent who Maya had run up to hug. He had never learned the agent's name, but he had seen her staying with Diego in the farmhouse back at the barn. She wore an black suit with white pinstripes and heels with sun glasses. "Hello, Maya." Her tone had a seriousness to it, so serious it was intimidating. Officer Armando stood beside her, cigarette in his mouth and cup of coffee in his hand. The agent turned her attention towards the two injured soldiers. "Intelligence Officer Armando would like to ask you two a few questions while I visit my sister. You are to give him your undivided attention." She shot a glare to Apollo and Ema. "Am I understood?" Apollo nodded quickly, his mouth full of spoon-fed ice-cream, and Diego signaled Ema to leave the area with Maya and the Agent.

The I.O. smirked; "You'll have to excuse my kitten...she's rattled from the war. She's not always such an ice queen." He took a sip of his coffee, cigarette still in mouth. _How did he...? _"Now, about your Lieutenant...he's been acting suspicious lately to me. I just wanted to ask you two about himm if you don't mind."

_Edgeworth? Suspicious? _"No, he always stays holed up in his stall..."

Diego took sucked on his cigarette; "You two lack in observation, I see...I am not going to inform you of my beliefs other than he is partaking in...treachorous activity." The cigarette smoke came out of his mouth with his last two words.

Apollo spoke up. "I don't think Lt. Edgeworth would be a traitor, Officer Armando..."

Armando placed his hand on his forehead in thought; "Your unit is like a cup of black coffee...strong, powerful...and when you add sugar and cream to it, it becomes...weak." He took a sip of his coffee; "...I think Lt. Edgeworth is your unit's sugar and cream."

Phoenix sat up in anger; "No! Officer, I am not going to let you-"

"Shut up, corporal. Your time here is almost done, so I would advise you not to make enemies with your superiors for a smooth trip home." He said this with a cocky smirk, his tilted back some.

_What is he talking about...? _

The Agent and the 3 nurses came up behind him; "Diego, it's time for us to go now." Officer Armando nodded in agreement, and he and the agent left the medical tent. Phoenix and Apollo were looking at each other, as if they were asking _What was that all about?_ Before Ema and Maya took their respective places beside their beds.

"Hey, Maya? Was that agent your sister?" Maya nodded excitedly. "Her name's Mia. She's actually not that bad outside of work, believe me. She and that Officer have...a thing, you know?" Phoenix nodded in understandment.

"She just seemed so...cold natured." Maya looked at the floor. "Oh, yeah, well...she's been like that since the war started. She really does care about me, though!"

"She did seem to love you..." Maya smiled, the light shining through the tent's thin fabric hitting her white teeth. "Oh, she does! She can be mean sometimes, but she's fun sometimes, too!" Phoenix couldn't bite his tongue. "She sure doesn't seem like it."

Maya looked angry, red coming to her face as she furrowed her brow; "Nick! Don't say that! She's...just really serious about her job."

Before Phoenix could respond, Kay came around the corner with two hamburgers. "Maya, did you send for two hamburgers?"

Maya jumped out of the chair she had been sitting in and snatched the two burgers from Kay's hand, and ran back to her chair. She anxiously began unwrapping one and eating it.

"Um, Maya? Didn't you just eat one of those 15 minutes ago...?" She nodded in excitement. "There's no such thing as too many burgers!"

She handed Phoenix one. "Here, I got one too!" She said with a full mouth.

He took it. "Thanks..." He began unwrapping it, and chomped into it.

It may have been just eating hamburgers together for lunch, but, between them, it was a moment they could never forget.


	8. Chapter 3: Edgeworth

CHAPTER 3 PART 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know that this is where an Apollo chapter would go, but if you would look at the first chapter, it says it'll be posted in different intervals. Just thought I'd share that. I thought an Edgeworth chapter would go better here, anyway.**

**-ghostfacekiller39**

As Lt. Miles Edgeworth walked back towards the barn, he finally felt as if he could light a cigarette; he didn't feel as if it'd be kosher to smoke in the medical tent. He lit the cigarette he had placed between his lips, and blocked the end of it with his hand to keep the breeze from blowing it out. He lit it, and then exhaled the smoke as he looked up into the blue sky; the dirt road still had a bit of a muddy texture due to the rain the previous day, and it was caking across his army boots as he walked along the path, occassionally passing by a puddle that had turned brown due to the mud around it.

He couldn't help but wonder if Franziska was alright; he worried about her whenever he left the stall. They had grown much closer than just an army Liuetenant illegally housing the daughter of the enemy; he really cared and was always concerned for her safety, in a way he had thought to be pointless to feel for another person. He heard a couple of birds chirping overhead as he sucked on his cigarette, causing the cherry to burn a bright red in the daylight. He took in his surroundings once more before finding his way into the front-lawn of the farmhouse. He gazed in the window as he walked back to the barn, to see only Commander Gant and speaking with the owners of the farm with a jovial look on his face; he was most likely talking about swimming. He stopped dead in his tracks after he had gotten close to the house, and sniffed the air. _Tea..._

He took off in a dead sprint towards the barn in order to escape the enticing aroma. He burst in through the doors to find his men doing what they always did; they were playing cards. Sgt. Gumshoe jumped up with a salute. "Sir! Nothing out of the ordinary, sir!"

Edgeworth deflated. "You don't say, Sergeant? And how many times have I told you not to salute me?"

Gumshoe's lower lip pertruded, and his pet rat came out of his pocket, scurried across his chest, and stood on his shoulder to pat him on the back of the neck in sympathy. "...I'm sorry, Lieutenant..." _Ughh. That rat again._

Gumshoe's rat was his best friend in the unit; since Pvt. Justice left, he had to bunk with Larry (He would not allow his men the freedom of a stall to themselves, for safety precautions.) and hated it; Gumshoe liked women as much as the next guy, but Larry wasn't the next guy, unfortunately, he was about 10 men down the line.

He blew off his Sgt.'s apology to assert his control of the squad; he often did things like this to his men to do so, but he always felt bad afterwards; and walked back into his stall to find Franziska waiting for him. He saw her and pulled something out of his jacket pocket; a something that was wrapped in paper and dripping in grease.

_"Was ist diese Sache?" _She asked with a confused look on her face. He figured she asked what it was he was holding.

"A hamburger. I snuck it from the cart at the Medical Tent for you." He looked down with a smile, a rarity from the Lieutenant.

She took it from his hand and began turning it in all directions, inspecting each and every side before she unwrapped her dinner and took a small bite. She chewed with a somewhat dissatisfied look on her face, and when she swallowed, she crossed her arms, burger in right hand, whip in left, and looked up in the air with a scowl. _"Es ist nicht genug für jemand gut, das wie selbst so perfekt ist." _He could tell she was acting like she didn't like it.

He smiled at her as he took a seat beside her. "So...you wouldn't mind if I took it for my dinner then?" He reached over and touched it with his hand, and she yanked back. "Lieutenant Ed-worth! _Berühren Sie nicht die Nahrung anderer Leute!_"

_Ohh...so now she wants it... _She began munching on the greasy sandwich furiously, as he watched with a smile. _She's so hostile it's cute._

She finished up and laid her head on his shoulder, and they sat in silence for a little while. These silences were Edgeworth's favorite part of the day, and they happened quite frequently.

He felt Franziska's voice run from her mouth through his shoulder; "Lieutenant Ed-worth?" He looked down at her with a smile, and she looked up at him with a smile in return, her head remaining on his shoulder. "Yes?"

_"Warum halfen Sie mir?" _Her face grew serious, but he had no idea what she was saying.

"Um..._Pferde?" _

"Hmph." She sat up and crossed her arms. _"Ich gerade warte, bis Sie nicht dumm sind und bitte wieder."_

_Yeahh, Pferde was definitely not the right answer. _A knock came on his door, and he placed his hand over Franziska's mouth to keep her from making a noise as he slowly got up. He made his way across his stall. Cigarette packets, pictures of home and journals lay in neatly organized piles on the hay-covered floor.

He cracked the door open to the overpowering scent of dark coffee. Officer Armando stand outside his stall door, looking at the floor to his left, leaning against the stall door frame to his right with a cigarette in his mouth and a cup of coffee in his left hand. Edgeworth stepped outside, closing the door behind him. "Officer Armando...it's nice to see you again. Can I help in any way?"

He exhaled his cigarette smoke into Lt. Edgeworth's face, causing him to blink. "Lieutenant..." He looked up, making eye contact. "I don't know what you're doing...but believe me, I will find out...my instincts don't lie to me, amigo. I'm watching you with both eyes wide open, like a young boy being given his first cup of coffee by his parents."

Edgeworth maintained his composure, crossing his arms and tapping his finger on his arm; "I don't know why you're suspecting me of anything. You have no reason to be doing so other than your own instincts, Officer."

Armando smirked. "My instincts don't lie to me. I just wanted to give you a fair warning, Lieutenant. Now, I have more important matters to be concerning myself with at the moment, such as assisting the jolly old commander with your friend's discharge papers. I'll see you around, amigo." He turned and left the barn, taking the scent of his coffee with him.

He went back inside of his stall and took a seat next to Franziska, and she lay her head back on his shoulder. "Lieutenant Ed-worth?" She sounded very nervous and worried.

"Shhhhh..." He pulled the top of her head closer to his mouth and kissed it. _Diego Armando...this is one suspicion you're going to have to live with._

* * *

**FRANZISKA SPEAKS:  
**

_**Was ist diese Sache? - **_**What is that?**

_**Es ist nicht genug für jemand gut, das wie selbst so perfekt ist. - **_**It's hardly a good meal for someone as perfect as myself.**

_****__Berühren Sie nicht die Nahrung anderer Leute! -_**Don't touch other people's food!**

_**Warum halfen Sie mir? - **_**Why did you save me?**

_**Ich gerade warte, bis Sie nicht dumm sind und bitte wieder. - **_**I'll ask when you are not a total fool.**

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Review! There's nothing that inspires me more than reading other people think of my stories. I do my outlines by chapters (in this case, by the part of the chapter.) so if there's something you think I should add to any of my stories go ahead and ask. Thanks for reading, dudes!**

-ghostfacekiller39


	9. Chapter 3: Apollo

CHAPTER 3 PART 3

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter has caused me great pain to write. No, not because of the emotional involvement, not because of dialogue, not because of anything other than the difficulty of writing it. I think MilesXFranziska is starting to steal the show, and Apollo is there too in an undercard, but I don't think Ema has gotten enough spotlight in ApolloXEma-centric chapters and MayaXPhoenix is progressing much too slowly. That's my honest opinion of this. I'm sorry for anyone who feels that MilesXFranziska is running away with it, but keep in mind that's my OTP, so I can't help but get a little more involved with them than in the other couples I'm portraying. Sorry for any inconvience, dudes.  
**

**Anyways, I'm going to bring in a new character to replace Phoenix in the unit, since he won't be returning from the Medical Tent. I would love to have requests on who I should bring in, but keep in mind, it must be a male, and if I have plans for them in the future of this story, I won't take them into consideration due to an appearance already planned. I'll give it a while, so anyway you can get your choice to me will be acceptable. (Both Gavins and Jake Marshall are due for an appearance, the latter in this chapter, so not one of them.) **

**-ghostfacekiller39**

**P.S. - I'm starting to believe I am the only guy who writes fanfic for this series; I have yet to encounter another dude on here. Just thought I'd share that.**

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Apollo lay in his hospital bed, happy as a clam. He knew he was leaving tomorrow to go back to the barn, but his mother had thought him ever since she took him in to always be positive and look at the good side of every situation. He could always come back to visit Phoenix to get to see Ema, anyways. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ema walking up to him with another bowl of Snackoo-laden ice cream. _Oh god...no more, please..._

"Hey, Pollo!" She said with a bright smile, flashing her white teeth as she set the bowl of ice cream onto his chest. He smiled back; her smile took him away from the war for just a moment each time he saw her. "Hey, Ema."

She put her finger on her mouth. "Um, hey Pollo? Can you do me a favor?" She looked worried; she didn't generally ask him for favors, especially not in an enticing way such as that. Whenever she asked him to do something, she'd always be up to the point and ready for anything, not trying to get her way like this. He deduced that this muse be serious.

"Yeah, of course. What do you need help with?" He tried smiling, but it was insincere, and she must've picked up on it. "Pollo, I'm serious. This is very important to me." Her tone had an icy bite to it, one that Apollo was not used to hearing from her.

He complied and didn't smile, just kept a straight expression plastered on his face; "Ema, what is it?" She looked down to the ground beneath her feet.

"Well...my sister is coming to visit me today, you know? She's a lot like Maya's sister...they even do the same job, but for different units...I mean, she cares...but she's a bit harsh, you know? Like Mia...she's not as much of a..._ice_ _queen_" Apollo noted the emphasis on these words. "...as my sister, but Lana will come and visit me much more often than Mia visits Maya, you know? Like, Lana is always telling me what to do and what not to do, and we're not at home anymore! Mrrghh! She just frustrates me so much!" She was turning red and clinching her teeth and fists at the same time.

Normally, a man would not be interested in this sort of conversation; but Apollo was a very sensitive kind of man, and was genuinely concerned about Ema's relationship with her sister. "Why do you say those things about her? I mean, what'd she do?"

Ema looked to her left at the side of the tent, avoiding eye contact with him. "You'll see soon enough."

Apollo was confused; he had never seen her like this before; he was aware she wasn't always Little Miss Sunshine, but still, she had always been bright and happy for him.

She continued her glare into nothingness; "Yeah, well, I got to go get ready, Pollo. Sorry for cutting you short." She got up and left, without a hug or a kiss on the cheek or anything.

Apollo couldn't help but wonder what about Lana Skye made Ema so stressed; he'd never met her before, but she must really be hard to be around if she was as bad as Ema said she was. He looked over at Wright; he was still sleeping. Apollo had heard the nurses talking when he was waking up one morning; Phoenix had around a week before he was to be shipped back home. His injury was too severe; his military career was over. Apollo couldn't help but feel bad for his friend; he and Gumshoe were the only two in the unit he could talk to, and Gumshoe really didn't understand what he was talking about half the time.

He sat alone in absolute silence; he started to wish that Lana were coming tomorrow after he left so that way he wouldn't have to deal with this boredom, but he instantly struck these thoughts from his mind. Ema needed him there today, and he was going to be there for her. He closed his eyes in an attempt to sleep, but failed. He ended up just having closed his eyes to see pitch black, being unable to fall asleep, leaving him alone with his thoughts. He hated it when this happened; he often only thought of bad memories of his past. He'd often, involuntarily, start thinking about his real mother; a mother who had abandoned him because of her inability to take care of him.

_...how does she sleep?..._

_...she abandoned her only child..._

_...has she ever tried to contact me?_

He had longed since stopped claiming this woman to be his mother in place of Sister Bikini; but still, he could not stop the thoughts of who she was and why she did what she did from pouring into his head whenever he closed his eyes.

He opened them quickly; he wanted to get out of the inner mechanisms of his mind and focus on what was at hand today; Ema's sister, Lana, was going to visit, and the woman he had grown to love was worrying herself sick because of it.

A couple hours had passed; things had been less dull at the barn; before Ema finally reappeared to him. She was constantly checking her appearance; she anxiously began playing with her hair in the small compact mirror she held in her free hand, and when she was done, she took a deep breath.

"Are you ready, Pollo?" She pressed the wrinkles out of her clothes with her hands once more before she looked his way for an answer.

"I'm ready when you are." With that, Apollo saw the light from outside enter the tent as the front of it opened; 2 people walked through; one a woman, wearing the exact same outfit as Maya's sister had on yesterday, and another one wearing the standard army uniform with a buttoned up jacket underneath a poncho and a cowboy hat.

Ema suddenly perked up; "Lana!" She ran her sister's way for a hug, but Lana held up her right hand, preventing her from doing so. She didn't greet her sister back; instead, she slowly walked around the tent, inspecting every nook and cranny with both arms held behind her back. The cowboy and Ema exchanged whispered greetings while she was doing so.

"Howdy, bambina..."

"Hey, Officer Marshall..."

They both turned to stand up straight as Lana turned heel; "I see you've done a good job keeping your post in order, Ema. Might I ask, however, where are the other two nurses assigned to this tent?"

Ema began stumbling over her words, as if the metaphorical cat had grabbed her tongue. "O-Oh, uhhhh..."

Lana Skye's eyes grew fierce; "Ema, don't tell me you're letting your workers sleep in again."

"W-Well, you see, uhhhh-" She was twiddling her thumbs, standing still in a dead sweat.

The cowboy made his way over to Apollo and extended his hand, and introduced himself in a whispered voice. "Howdy, pardener. Name's Jake Marshall, and I'm an Intelligence Officer. You must be this Pollo feller Ema always tells Lana about."

"Um, uh, y-yeah, I'm Pvt. Apollo Justice."Marshall took a knife out of his poncho and began trimming the stubble on his face with it. "Well, Rooster, I just thought I should let you in on a little secret, seeing how you're the little Bambina's fella and all..."

_Wait... _Apollo thought to himself. _...I'm Ema's...fella? And why did he call me rooster?_

_"_Two things, Rooster; Yes, you are Ema's fella, and I call you rooster because your hair looks like the papa hen in the henhouse back home in Texas."

_Did he just read my mind...?_

Officer Marshall moved to the side to show Lana scolding Ema like a small child or a puppy dog. As Lana's voice raised, so did Officer Marshall's. "See here, Rooster, Lana loves her little sister more than you or I can fathom. Besides you and me, they're the only people they have left; Tell me, pardner, what origin do you think the name Skye comes from?"

Apollo was puzzled; "English?"

Marshall took out his flask and bit the lid off, spitting it onto the floor. "Wrong, Rooster." He began chugging the drink in his flask as if he had been dehydrated for months. "..._Hebrew."_

Apollo jumped back with a gasp. "No..."

Officer Marshall took the flask done from his mouth, holding it in his right hand; he had warm, friendly eyes that Apollo had never seen in an Intelligence Officer before. "Rooster, I'm afraid this war has dealt the two of them more of a loss then it can deal either you or me. I reckon it'd be best not to intervene between them when Lana's like this." He leaned in, taking his free hand and blocking the side of his mouth with it as he whispered to Apollo. "Between you and me, pardner, Lana just about worries herself sick about Ema's safety. We really should just let them at it every once in a while, just as things don't get too out of hand. Just be ready, when they're done over yonder, me and you both are bound to get an earful."

Apollo just nervously nodded; he somewhat wished his unit had Officer Marshall instead of Officer Armando; he was certainly friendlier. When Ema and Lana had finished up their 'visit', Lana and Officer Marshall left the tent. Ema marched her way over to Apollo vehemently; "Ughh! I can't believe her! She talks to me like I'm some sort of little kid! It's not my fault I try to be a nice head nurse! Hell, I'm not even head nurse! Why one of these days I'll show Lana..." He gave her his full attention as she yelled at him for something he had no involvement with; after his meeting with Officer Marshall, there was not a doubt in his mind she deserved it.

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I think I nailed Marshall's Texas lingo perfectly, being from Texas and all :P Anyway, dudes, please review, and try to get your opinion to me as to who you think should take Phoenix's spot in the unit; keep in mind this does not change the format of the story at all, it's still going to be the same three main couples, but this is just pretty much going to be Larry's new bunkmate. Said this already, but Review, dudes!**

**-ghostfacekiller39**


	10. Chapter 4: Edgeworth

CHAPTER 4 PART 1

It was nighttime, and Franziska's head rested on Lt. Edgeworth's shoulder, fast asleep. He, however, was not being granted the luxury of sleep at the time.

He hadn't slept since Officer Armando came to inform him of his suspicions; the Intelligence officer was an extremely smart man; Edgeworth knew he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, like a viper in coil, it's venomous fangs exposed. He pulled his Zippo out from his pocket, and then lit a cigarette he had already placed in his mouth; the nicotine buzz was the only thing that kept him from sleeping.

He didn't close the top of the lighter, however. He kept the flame burning and slowly and gently reached towards his piles of journals; he sifted towards the bottom and pulled an older one out that read _Lt. Edgeworth _on the cover. He blew the dust off of it and read the cover to himself. _Lt. Edgeworth; I know I'm not the first, but please, god tell me I'm the last._

He blew out some cigarette smoke and opened the old war journal; a picture of him and his father fell out. He set his Zippo down on a crate beside him, letting it act as a sort of lantern. He picked up the picture and gave it a look over; it was him and his father, marked December 5, 1935, on the day of his 18th birthday. They were both standing outside of his childhood home, saluting the camera, each with a smile. His head surged and throbbed, fighting back flashback to that day.

He remembered he wanted to be like his dad, a Lieutenant in the military, ever since he was a child. He was born in 1917, when his dad was away fighting in WWI. They had the same eyes, same hair (albeit they wore it in a different fashion) and same loyalty to their men. His head throbbed and surged once more, this time his vision with it; he kept on fighting the flashback he knew was inevitable.

He was leaving for college that day. That picture was taken right before he left with his two best friends to go become men. His head surged a final time, and this time it was too strong to fight back.

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**HOLD IT! Flashback coming up, you really should go play the extended version of Reminiscence : True Pain from PW: JFA on YouTube. It's the perfect music for Lt. Edgeworth's flashback.**

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_FLASH! "Okay, Edgey, we got your picture. Can we go now? I can hear the broads callin' my name!" Larry Butz sat inside his brand new truck calling at him, while Phoenix put his camera up and hopped into the passenger's seat. _

_Now 18-year old Miles Edgeworth smiled; he was the youngest of the 3, but in a matter of months, not years. They all, however, managed to graduate high school a term early (Larry only because of his family's money; they weren't hit as hard by the depression as anyone else, it seemed; they were still the richest family in town, depression or not.) He and Phoenix did it the honest way; they were both still very excited about getting to go to college, though, even if Larry had been expecting it all of his life. "I'll be there in a minute. Let me say goodbye to my dad." Geez, he's one impatient rich kid. _

_He looked eye to eye with his dad; he was told they had the same eyes, but he didn't want to believe it; ever he'd known his father, his eyes always seemed so cold and distant, even if he had always been a bright and friendly man. He'd heard about something tragic happening to his entire platoon in the first World War, a platoon he himself was in charge of, but he never was filled in on all of the details. "Hey, dad."_

_His father smiled back. "Hey, son. I shouldn't be telling you this, because I know you'll do it, no matter what, but go out and make me proud, ok?" A tear started falling from his glasses protected eyes as he hugged his son goodbye. "I love you."_

_He hugged his dad back; "I love you too, dad." He knew he was lucky to have a man like him as a father; he wouldn't have asked for a different man to take his place. After they were done, he pulled back and patted him on the shoulder. "Now, go get 'em, Miles." _

_He threw up a salute. "Will do, dad." Gregory Edgeworth had always given his son an option as to what he wanted to become when he grew up, but Miles knew as soon as he graduated college he was going to become a Lieutenant in the Army, just like him. He picked up his bag and tossed in the back of Larry's truck, hopping in the passenger seat, forcing Phoenix to the middle. He waved goodbye to his dad one last time before heading off to become his own man._

_They drove for around 5 minutes before Miles remembered he'd forgotten his collection of journals. "Larry, go back. I forgot something." _

_"Whhhhaaaatttt?" The rich boy said, sounding irate. "Fine, just hurry, ok?"_

_They drove 5 minutes back to his old house. When they got there, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it was different. It seemed...cold._

_He entered his room and picked up all of his journals and placed them in a bag. He decided to say bye to his dad one last time before heading off, and also he needed to let him know he was here and taking a few more of his things. "Dad?" No answer._

_"Dad? Are you here?" Still no answer. He walked up to his father's bedroom and knocked on it, finding it locked. "Dad?" He knew he was behind there. He grew worried; he kicked the door down. He immediately wished he had never done so, as a sickening paleness flushed over his face._

_"No..." His dad's dead body hung by a noose from the ceiling, a wooden chair kicked down on the floor below. He walked up to his father's dead body and wiped some of the blood off his dad's chin that had found its way out of his mouth. He looked at it on his finger, and began to shake. "No...dad..." His finger came out of focus as he noticed a piece of paper sticking out of his father's pocket._

_He pulled it out, and after reading the scribbled text, he knew he'd never, ever f__orget these words._

_MILES - NEVER JOIN THE MILITARY_

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He hadn't noticed Franziska awake beside him; "...Lieutenant Ed-worth?"

These words broke his focus and he gazed at the half-awake-half asleep blue haired girl beside him. "Hey, Franziska."

_"Sie sehen wie ein Geist aus." _She said this with a strong hint of worry in her eyes.

He smiled at her and then pulled her head close to him and kissed her forehead.

"I love you, Franziska."

_"Ich liebe dich auch, _Lieutenant Ed-worth."

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**FRANZISKA SPEAKS: **

_**Sie sehen wie ein Geist aus - **_**You look like a ghost.**

_**Ich liebe dich auch - **_**I love you too.**

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Finally, I got around to updating this work of mine! Leave a review or whatever you like, and please, check out my forum, AA's Serene Place. It's a safe place to promote your stories, get feedback on your ideas, meet other writers, and vent your frustrations. **

**Happy reading, dudes!**

**-ghostfacekiller39**


	11. Chapter 4: Phoenix

CHAPTER 4 PART 2

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**Music: The Turnabout Sisters' Ballad - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney**

**Please, Please listen to this song as you read this! It makes it that much more special, I promise you!**

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Phoenix Wright looked over one of the envelopes of the letters he had been sent; or rather, given back. He tore the unopened envelope open and took the letter he had written out.

He didn't bother reading it; he took a lighter he had stashed under his pillow and lit it into flames. It burned in his hand until the flame reached his palm; after that, he let it go. He could still see the little ashes still burning in the near pitch black tent; they were the only thing the moonlight allowed to be seen in color. A soft voice came from the area to his right. "...that was a letter from her, wasn't it...?" He turned to see Nurse Maya standing there. He looked at the fiery ashes floating in the air a moment more before he put her into focus.

The moonlight gave sort of a black luster to her hair, and any other color you'd be seeing in the daylight had been voided by the darkness. He could see a sullen expression on her face and her hands held together in front of her, her shoulders somewhat slumped in pity. "Yeah, it was..."

"Nick..." She came and sat down on his bedside. "Why are you letting it bother you so much...? She's not worth the pain..."

Phoenix wanted to yell inside; just scream. He couldn't bring himself to actually do it, so he just smirked instead. "You know, Maya...Love is the fruit of human nature; It's when two people share every single emotion feasible; sorrow, joy, anger...and still come out strong in the end. To know that I was putting in my half and that she wasn't putting in hers is what causes me anger. To know that I was willing and ready to spend the life with someone who didn't care is what causes me sorrow. And knowing that she wasn't worth it and that something better awaits is what causes me joy. I'm feeling every possible emotion a human being can feel, Maya, but you know what? This isn't love."

Maya looked up at him, somewhat of a sad nod. "Then what is it, Nick...?"

He just smiled. "If only I could tell you, Maya. If only I could tell you."

She noticeably forced her smile back; the ends of her lips barely curved. "I think I know what it is."

He looked up; he hadn't expected to hear those words. "What is it then, Maya?" His tone had a hint of curiosity about it.

Her smile faded. "It's heartbreak. Love is when you share all those emotions with another person, and heartbreak is when you're the only one feeling them."

He was happy to hear those words. He had thought her to be a beautiful girl, but one he could have an intelligent and deep conversation with such as this...it was a long shot to say he thought her as anything other than immature as a person, but that was quickly changing. He pulled out a heart shaped locket from underneath his t-shirt; "Wanna take a look at this, Maya?"

He flicked his lighter and held it to where she could see the picture inside; it was of himself and a young red-headed girl, who seemed frail and had a faux smile plastered all over her face. "This is Dahlia Hawthorne. You know why I'm showing this picture to you, Maya?"

She shook her head softly.

"Because, you're the last person who's going to see it inside of this." With that, he took the picture out of the locket and held it in the palm of his hand; it was a thin, flat picture, and he blew it out of his palm, and they watched the shadow of the heart-shaped picture flutter about in the air, as if it were a butterfly just let out of captivity.

It was something else; it fluttered about in all directions, burning ashes from the letter still floating in the air.

Maya turned and lay in his hospital bed beside him, and he put his arm around her. Together, they burned each and every one of the letters, letting the burning red ashes create sort of a light show for them.

They talked the rest of the night, but Phoenix couldn't remember the words they said, but rather, the feelings in which they said it, beneath the red ashes of his past. He didn't once think of those being letters he had written to Dahlia Hawthorne; No, they were a small spectacle for only his and Maya's enjoyment.

Phoenix knew he wouldn't forget that black night, the moonlight providing a backlight in the tent, as to the light show created from the ashes; after they burned the last letter, they both saw a bird rise from the blazing ashes; they just wrote it off as their imaginations, but it was anything but.

Soon, the night came to an end, and the sun began to rise, casting a different shade of light into the tent. Maya had to get up and get ready to serve him and Apollo breakfast. He smiled as he watched her do just that, and finally, when she was done, the birds had begun to chirp in the air and the rooster crowed.

_You know, part of me doesn't want this night to end..._Phoenix thought to himself as he smiled at her, as she put a plate of home-cooked eggs onto his chest. _...But the other part is telling me it hasn't, and it won't._

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Woww. I couldn't get any sleep tonight, so I started listening to some Phoenix Wright music...and this beauty was the outcome. I was scared PhoenixXMaya wasn't going to turn out as well as the other relationships because it's much harder for me to write than the other two...but this chapter changed all of that. I guess it's good I didn't get any sleep tonight, huh, dudes?**

**Happy Reading, Dudes!**

**-ghostfacekiller39**


	12. Chapter 4: Apollo

CHAPTER 4 PART 3

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: There's something I failed to inform you all of.**

**This is a WWII AU, as you all know, dudes. But, the only ones who grew up in the same town in this AU were Phoenix, Edgeworth, and Larry (and I guess you could say Dahlia.)**

**I made Apollo from Boston and Ema from Brooklyn, Franziska (as you already know) from Germany, I picture Gumshoe coming from Oklahoma for some reason, and the rest of the characters can be left up to open interpratation.**

**Oh, and I decided on the best new character to add to the platoon in place of Phoenix. It's at the bottom of the story, and I got a great plotline planned for this character.**

**Anyway, now for my signature.**

**Happy reading, dudes!**

**-ghostfacekiller39**

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Apollo Justice opened his eyes from his slumber. He had slept like a long all night. He felt a tinge in his nose; it felt like, _ashes? No, that couldn't be it. _

He decided to drop it and look for Ema; he scanned the room once over; he noticed some cold eggs by his bedside and Phoenix still sleeping in the bed beside him. _Hmm. He must be having some really good dreams, to be sleeping this long. _

He continued searching for Ema, but to no avail. He couldn't think of where she could be; he was cleared to go back to the barn at 12 o'clock noon, and she knew that. So, why would she dissappear like this?

"Ema?" He called out to no answer. _Where is she? _Nurse Kay walked over to him and hopped on his bed side. "Hey, Pollo! What's the matter?"

He continued looking around the room as he responded to the ADHD nurse's question. "Oh, I'm just leaving today and I was wondering where Ema is, that's all."

Kay grinned from ear to ear. "Oh! Didn't you hear? There was some freak accident in the platoon were they put all the athletes and the actors who are serving! We have Matt Engarde AND Juan Corrida coming into MY wing! Can you believe it!? It's a dream come true!" _From what they say about those two, I highly doubt it was an accident. _

"Anyway, she's busy filling out all 3 of you guy's paperwork. I'm sure she'll come around and give you the..." She giggled. "..._Proper sendoff _when she's done." Apollo really liked the way 'Proper Sendoff' sounded.

"Oh, o-Kay!" He laughed his own joke. "You get it? 'o-Kay'? BAHAAHAAHAAHAA!" Kay just stared at him.

"What, don't you think it's funny?"

"Oh, sorry. Har-har-har-har."

_I'm glad she liked my joke. I almost thought she didn't for a second. That would've been awkward. "_Anyway, I'll be waiting for Ema. Bye!"

"See ya, Pollo!" With that, she walked off to her side of the wings to prepare two V.I.P. beds for Matt Engarde and Juan Corrida.

He looked around the tent once more before checking his watch; _"11:23..." _He muttered to himself. He decided to take matters into his own hands and sat up, testing the floor with his limp ankle; he didn't feel a thing. _Unfortunately. _Apollo thought to himself.

He was going to miss the dog days of the medical tent; the long days spent with Ema, the conversations, the _fun. _He had dated around before, but he couldn't remember having this much fun with a girl except for that time he took one to a Red Sox game, and that was more fun for him than her.

_When we get back, I'm going to take Ema to a Red Sox-Yankees game. That'd be fun for both of us. _After that thought left his mind, he got out of bed and made his way over to Ema's metal desk.

When he approached her, she was still filling out papers for himself, Engarde, and Corrida, a bag of Snackoos directly beside her files. "H-Hey, Ema." He scratched the back of his neck. _She's busy, Justice, you shouldn't be bothering her! What are you thinking!?_

His worried washed away when she looked up with a smile. "Hey, Pollo." She looked back down and continued writing.

"So...umm, 30 minutes until I leave to go back to the barn." He was trying to make polite conversation.

She stopped writing and set her pen down on the metal desk. "I know..." She breathed out with a sigh. She shot her head back up at him, and their eyes interlocked. Her eyes had sort of a sad, puppy dog look at them. "You're going to still come and see me, right? I mean, you could just say you're coming to visit Pvt. Wright." Her eyes went from sad to cold, dead serious in a heartbeat. "You're going to come visit him, right?"

His voice shook. _Geez, women sure can get you in a vice grip and then get you to give in to them. It's not like I didn't plan on coming up here, though. _"Y-Yes, of course! It's going to be my duty to make sure Pvt. Wright is doing fine!"

She smiled. "You better, or I'm going to have you sent to hell for disobeying one of God's chosen people."

"H-Huh!?" She flashed her sparkling white teeth. "I kid, I kid. It's just a joke, Pollo. Calm down. It's not like I can actually do that, anyway, and I wouldn't if I could."

"O-Oh..." _Geez, I thought my jokes were bad...her's are just scary!_

She pulled out a rollie chair from seemingly out of nowhere and put it beside her. "Here, take a seat, Pollo."

He sat down beside her; the chair was close enough to where he could smell her hair. "So...Apollo..." _Apollo? I haven't heard her call me that since the first time I came up here. _

She continued. "You know, when you first started coming up here, you were really, REALLY annoying to me." _Yeahh, I still have some bruises from your Snackoos._

"...but you started coming up to see us in the tent more and more, and you...well, you're still annoying, as we speak." She turned at him and smiled. "But, it's my kind of annoying."

She looked back down at her papers and blushed. "And I just wanted to know...am I your kind of annoying too?"

_Wait...wait...is she saying what I think she is? _"Yes, Ema, you are my kind of annoying."

She smiled at him, cheeks red; "Well, you better come down here so we can be our kind of annoying together, Pollo."

He smiled as she pushed the paperwork over to him for him to sign; "Of course I will, Ema. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye-Bye!" She waved all cutesy like; neither wanted to Apollo to leave, but that was the way things worked.

During the long walk back to the barn, it began to storm, and the rain caused Apollo's hair to fall flat. He stopped at a puddle and looked into it to see his own reflection. The water was murky, but he could see himself clearly. He let out a sigh; he was glad he had gotten out of there quickly. He didn't want to leave, and he knew the longer he stayed, the harder it would've been. He continued on his journey back to the barn, putting leaving the tent today as far back in his mind as possible, and looking forwards towards getting to go see 'Phoenix' tomorrow.

The large red barn came into sight; _I wonder if any of the guys will be happy to see me._

He walked past the house to see Officer Armando watching him over from the porch over a cup of coffee. Apollo waved, but Armando didn't. Instead, he motioned him over to where he was standing.

"Private." He took a sip of his coffee, and Apollo gave him a salute. Armando just shook his head and put a cigarette up to his mouth and lit it. "Private, listen to me very closely." Diego looked into Apollo's eyes with a stare so cold in gave an already freezing in the rain Apollo chills.

"A black cup of coffee is magical; there is no single thing that is better than that first cup of black magic on a cold morning. But you know what can take that magic out of the coffee, private?"

Apollo was shaking; _this man is...so...intimidating...so...serious...I don't..._

He pulled a pistol out from the inside of his jacket. "When you add cream and sugar to the blend." He cocked it and aimed down the gun's sights, straight at Apollo's head; Apollo stood still, frozen in place.

"Private..." Diego flipped the gun in his hand to where he could hand it to him. "It is our duty to make sure that no sugar and cream make it into our cup of coffee...at all costs. Do you understand me?"

Apollo just shook his head yes and took the gun from Armando's hand. "You should know what to do if you see any sugar or cream in that barn. Am I clear, private?"

He saluted the Intelligence Officer once more. "Crystal, sir." Armando dismissed Pvt. Justice with a wave, and walked back to the farmhouse, blowing cigarette smoke into the rain.

When Apollo walked back into the barn, a large, red man, was the first to greet him. "Hey, uhhh, Butz. Who's 'dis guy?"

Larry walked up and held his hand up to Apollo for a high-five; the favor was not returned. "This is Pvt. Justice. He's the funniest guy in the entire unit, I'm telling ya, Tiger. He hurts himself everyday to go play peek-a-boo with the nurses. Polly, this Pvt. Tigre."

The large man roared at him; "Youse a funny guy, huh? I don't like them funny guys. You know what happened to the last guy who tried to get funny with the Tiger?"

He slashed his throat with his thumb. _Gee, this is one friendly man. Great replacement for the one friend I had in here._

Tigre kept staring Apollo down. _Well, at least someone's giving me a warm welcome back._


	13. Chapter 5: Phoenix

CHAPTER 5 PART 1

Phoenix had slept most of the day because of the previous night's light show with Maya; he awoke from his slumber around 4 in the afternoon to see Apollo gone; this caused him to wonder how much longer he'd be in this tent himself; not that he minded, of course.

He heard yelling from the other side, but he couldn't quite make out what was being said. Maya came up to his bedside without him realizing it, chewing on a burger. "Hey, Nick!"

He had a jumpscare for a moment. This caused Maya to jump as well. "AH!"

Once he caught his breath, he began to speak. "Hey, Maya. Sorry about that, It's just, we're in war, and..."

She interrupted him by shoving a burger in his face. "It's fine! Here, take this for dinner. I got it special."

He smiled at her and nodded as he took the burger from her hand and began unwrapping it. "Thanks, Maya."

She nodded with an even bigger smile than he gave her. "Anytime!"

With that, they ate their first dinner together; sure, it was just a burger; but it did feel special for them none the less. Phoenix began realizing that _everything _he did with her felt special; but how long would it last? He wasn't entirely aware of it, but he was still facing some of the burn that Dahlia had left him with; a burn that Nurse Maya was the ice to soothe the ill-effects of it. It was if he could hear her saying _It's just a flesh wound, after all, Nick! _in her cutesy, childlike voice.

They were sitting in silence together, eating their burgers, when Nurse Kay came storming in, a cloud of dust forming around her feet as she stomped on the ground beneath her. Maya was the first to speak. "Hey, Kay! What's the matter?"

"MAYA!" Kay ran up and hung on to her jacket, knees hitting the floor, a look of desparation in her eyes. "Please, PLEASE take one of these two patients! They. Will. Not. Stop!"

"H-Huh?" Maya looked a bit surprised at this. "I thought you wanted both of-"

"NOT ANYMORE! I move them to the opposite sides of the tent, I put them in timeout, I even faced both of their beds to the corner once, and they won't stop fighting!" _Well, _Phoenix thought, _they are two grown men, and those tactics hardly work on small children..._

"Well, Maya...I was hoping you could do me a small, tiny, iitsy-bitsy favor?" Kay's eyes were begging her now.

Maya grinned. "Sure! What is it?"

Kay smiled. "I need to move one of the patients over here."

Phoenix looked up at Maya, who appeared to be deep in thought. "Hmmm...I don't know..."

Ema walked in with a couple of guests at that very moment, preventing Maya from answering. "Maya, Phoenix, you have some visitors."

Officer Armando and the women in black Maya referred to as her older sister came in; Phoenix could feel the fear rising within him. It was never good when Officer Armando wanted to talk to you, and Phoenix believed Armando wanted it that way.

Phoenix threw up a salute as Armando lit a cigarette, cup of coffee in his hand. "At ease, soldier." During this time, Maya had ran up to give the mysterious sister of hers a hug.

"MIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAA!" The woman, 'Mia', as Maya called her, hugged her younger sister back with a warm smile; she seemed to be a friendly woman, contrary to her lover, Officer Armando.

The mysterious woman patted her younger sister on the top of the head. "Hey, Maya, how's things going over here in the tent?"

Maya grinned. "Good. So, whaddya wanna talk about, sis?" Mia looked a bit surprised.

"Well, actually, Diego is going to take you to town to get a burger while I stay here and discuss some...urgent matters with Pvt. Wright." Phoenix gulped. _I really, really don't like the way she said that._

"Cool!" Maya was beaming, and turned her attention to Officer Armando. "Hey, Diego! Did you know that here in France, they call cheeseburgers 'Royale with Cheese'? Isn't that weird?"

Armando blew some smoke out of his nostrils. "No, I was not aware of that. Sounds good though, we might both have to get one." _WHA!? HE'S BEING...NICE!? _Phoenix felt lucky he was able to hide the shock on his face; if he hadn't been able to, it would've been very bad news, to say the least.

"Come along now, Kitten. I'm getting hungry." With that, Maya and Officer Armando walked back out to the jeep that he, the mysterious woman, and Gant went around in. Once they left, Mia shot an icy glare at Phoenix.

"Private. Do you know who I am?" Her eyes alone were enough to intimidate Phoenix, let alone her tone.

"Errr...Maya's...sister?" He could feel his palms getting clammy. _Gee...I thought Officer Armando was scary..._

She hammered out her response as soon as he was finished. "Correct. You do know that she's told me about you, correct?"

"Err...no?" The same scary look from before followed his answer. "Yes, yes, yes!" The glare didn't go away, and Phoenix was beginning to shake. _Geez! Women really are scary when they want to fight!_

She pulled out her pistol, and Phoenix responded by squeaking and hiding under his blanket the medical tent provided him. He heard a sigh from outside his paper-thin fortress; "Come out from under their, private. I'm not going to kill you..."

He poked his head out from under his safe-haven to see her polishing her weapon; it was shiny and sleek, and had a futuristic design to it; one that probably wouldn't be seen for another 70 years. She didn't look up. "You know, Wright..." She scoffed his name at the end of her sentence. "...considering that you could possibly end up hurting the person I care about most..." She shot him a glare. "...I want to tell you my job."

"H-Huh?" Phoenix didn't expect that ending. "W-Why that?"

She smirked at him; "Oh, because then I'd have to kill you."

Phoenix could feel all the blood draining from his face; he knew he was a ghost white right now, and he knew that's the way she wanted it. She spoke up, still giving him that icy smirk. "So, Wright, unless you want to find out my profession, I'd reccommend not hurting my little sister, OK?"

He swallowed as he nodded. She put her hand to her mouth, icy glare still in her gaze. "...so make this the best 4 days of her life, understand?"

_Huh? 4 days? What's that mean? _He didn't know what to think; he could feel his thoughts were clouded and he was in a cold sweat.

With that, she left, and he fainted.

He woke up to see Maya standing over him. "...Nick? NnnnnIIIIIIIiiiicckk?" he slowly opened his eyes to see her smiling, some ketchup on the side of her face.

"Good, you're awake! I was scared Mia had killed you!" He reached up and wiped some of the ketchup off of her face.

He smiled sleepily as his eyes met hers. "...Don't worry, I think everything's going to be alright."

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Whew, it feels like forever since I've updated this :P In case you're wondering, I'm working on the main series of mine, I don't exactly have a title for it, an alternate timeline of the events following T&T. It's going to have 3 to 6 installments, each a separate fanfic :P **

**That being said, I'm going to be working on this in less frequent updates, and after I finish up this, Scarlet Begonias will officially be off of hiatus. **

**AA's Serene Place, my profile for more details on the Serene Place, review XP**

**Happy Reading Dudes!**

**-ghostfacekiller39**


	14. Chapter 5: Edgeworth

CHAPTER 5: EDGEWORTH

* * *

When a human being has a premonition about something in detail as Lt. Miles Edgeworth was having at this very moment, it's generally unexplainable; but he was a far more intelligent man than the general population.

_Pvt. Apollo Justice has a gun that he has been instructed to kill me with.  
_

Yes, indeed; he had seen Pvt. Justice receive a gun of all things from Officer Armando. The good Intelligence Officer was rightly called just that; he was a very intelligent man, as much so as Lt. Edgeworth, and the Lieutenant had known about Armando having "Premonintions" of his own; and if Edgeworth was correct about what Armando was suspecting him of, than he was 100%, clear-cut correct.

After all, he was housing the daughter of a notorious Nazi commander.

He had to leave; if he were to protect Franziska, he had no options. He had grown attached to her, and although her perpetually surly demeanor prevented her from admitting so, he knew she had become attached to him, too.

There was something still bothering him, though; it had been for a while, but he decided against inquiring about it.

_Why was she even here to begin with?_

She stayed sitting down while he began packing all of his important belongings: his cigarettes, some food, and most of all, any evidence of her being there.

He heard her voice come out from behind him a ways across the stall; "Lt. Ed-worth? _Was hast du fur versteckt?" _

He just looked back at her and smirked, unsure of what to say. After he had gotten everything of his packed up, he went out of the stall to get Pvt. Wright's bag to carry more stuff along with them. He exited the stall and closed the door behind him to see his men, doing the only things they seemed to know how to do; playing cards, smoking, and listening to Larry tell sex jokes. He looked over the large, red, new recruit; he had a funny, funny name; Furious Tiger or something; and he seemed to already have it out for Larry (which failed to surprise Lt. Edgeworth in the slightest) and, for some reason, Pvt. Justice; Edgeworth hadn't been able to figure that one out yet.

They all burst into laughter, unaware of their Lieutenant's presence in the room, but Edgeworth preferred it that way. He walked into the storage stall and pulled out all of Pvt. Wright's old equipment; it was saddening to him that his old friend was gone for good now, but the world stops turning for no one, and in his own mind, Edgeworth had already abandoned his troop; his leave that night was only going to be a formality, and nothing more.

He packed of all Wright's belongings that would be of use, barring his rifle and his blanket; the latter was already in his stall, and Edgeworth just took the ammo out of the former and planned on lending Franziska his pistol. He didn't think she could handle that sort of weapon, and he already had his own rifle.

He carried the bag across the barn back to his stall; none of his troops noticed him once again, which was good, but he wasn't trying to act like a ninja or avoid them; he just walked there and back. They didn't have the right to question his methods anyway, at least not until the morning. He threw Pvt. Wright's old bag down next to his as he closed the stall door behind him.

"Franziska..." He pointed to the bag that used to belong to Phoenix Wright; "This is yours." He pointed at the other one with his name on it; "This is mine."

She looked irritated at him, but she still nodded. _"Hmph. Wohin gehen wir?"_

Edgeworth shook his head. "Not quite sure."

Franziska still looked unsatisfied; "_Und wann gehen wir?"_

He kneeled down to her level, as she was seated on the ground, her back against the wall. "Not quite sure." With that, he leaned in and kissed her on the lips; he felt her tense up, and then relax a bit, and she moved her hand to the back of his head.

He stopped right there; this could wait, their lives were on the line if they didn't get out that night, and he needed to prepare to make sure everything went accordingly.

As day turned into night and the sun swapped places with the moon, Edgeworth prepared for the escape; and before he knew it, it was time.

The barn was near pitch black, and Lt. Edgeworth opened the door so quietly it didn't even creak, and he motioned for Franziska to follow; she picked up her bag and followed his suit, staying low to the ground; once they made it to the barn door, Edgeworth quietly opened it; he jumped at a sound coming from one of the stalls, causing Franziska to jump by extension; they stayed quiet for a bit, and it became clear it was just Lang and Armstrong cuddling in their stall. Lt. Edgeworth angrily dismissed the noise and motioned for Franziska to follow.

Once they got out of the barn, they began running; running for safety, running for freedom, but most of all, _running for their lives._

* * *

Back at the farmhouse, a man watched the two of them run across the farm's pasture. He lit his cigarette and took a sip of his coffee, shaking his head as he did so.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant Edgeworth. You were a good man, but you have just sealed your fate."

* * *

**A/N: Whew. It's been a while since I've updated this one.**

**I did hit a dead end, because I wanted their leave to be the last part of Chapter 5, but I realized it'd work better this way. I hope you enjoyed!**

**AA's Serene Place, my profile for more details, and Happy Reading Dudes!**

**-ghostfacekiller39**


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